While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Wolfgang Depner.
Style advisor Dale Olsen says he doesn't distinguish between party colours, but he doubts British Columbia Premier David Eby is well qualified to act as the fashion police. Eby thrust political attire onto the agenda this month when he dressed down Opposition legislature member Gavin Dew for wearing a grey hoodie as he voted remotely on a private member's bill...
VICTORIA -- Style advisor Dale Olsen says he doesn't distinguish between party colours, but he doubts British Columbia Premier David Eby is well qualified to act as the fashion police.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's credit rating has been downgraded, but Premier David Eby says government made a "very clear choice" between making cuts to "meet a credit rating" and "prioritizing British Columbians."
VICTORIA -- James Wolfe, who lives in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, spent the last year and a half looking for a long-term care bed for his 68-year-old brother Brian, who has Down syndrome and non-verbal dementia.
VICTORIA -- A recruitment campaign in the United States has allowed British Columbia to hire more than 400 health-care professionals in less than a year.
VICTORIA -- The number of candidates running for the leadership of the British Columbia Conservatives has shrunk to seven.
A B.C. legislator who has sought to scrap the province's Human Rights Code and ban land acknowledgments, and has blamed the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting on "transgender ideology," is facing a recall campaign from constituents who say she has left them without "coherent" representation. Tara Armstrong has also been accused of spreading hate by the NDP government and is facing...
VICTORIA -- A B.C. legislator who has sought to scrap the province's Human Rights Code and ban land acknowledgments, and has blamed the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting on "transgender ideology," is facing a recall campaign from constituents who say she has left them without "coherent" representation.
VICTORIA -- B.C. Premier David Eby says he had a "frank discussion" with U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra about the cross-border softwood lumber dispute and tariffs.
VICTORIA -- American duties on Canadian softwood lumber and the ban of American alcohol by B.C. will be on the table when Premier David Eby meets the U.S. ambassador to Canada in Victoria today.
The mother of a 12-year-old girl critically injured in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., last month says her daughter's breathing tube has been removed as doctors check to see whether she can breathe on her own.
VICTORIA -- Two new police training sites have been approved in Vancouver and Victoria to address a surge in demand for recruits from communities across British Columbia.
VICTORIA -- The Tumbler Ridge and Prince George chambers of commerce in B.C. are urging Ottawa and the provincial government to ban children under 16 from using AI tools and social media.
VICTORIA -- The Tumbler Ridge and Prince George chambers of commerce in B.C. are urging Ottawa and the provincial government to ban children under 16 from using AI tools and social media.
VICTORIA -- Workers in B.C.'s softwood lumber industry and other sectors who are out of work because of U.S. tariffs will benefit from almost $71 million in funding for retraining.
Federal Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says the CEO of OpenAI has agreed to take several actions to bolster safety, including providing a report outlining the new systems the firm is developing to identify high-risk offenders and policy violators.
Federal Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says he met with the CEO of OpenAI and told him the people of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., deserve an apology for the tech firm's role in events leading up to the mass shooting there last month.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's chief coroner has called an inquest into the shooting deaths of nine people in Tumbler Ridge to determine how future deaths might be prevented.
VICTORIA -- The father of 12-year-old Abel Mwansa Jr. says he is "eternally grateful" to governments of Zambia, Canada and local MP Bob Zimmer among others for helping him repatriate the body of his son after he was shot in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. last month.
Calls for an independent investigation into the shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where eight people, including six children were shot last month, are growing. Federal Conservative MP Bob Zimmer, who represents the community in northeastern B.C., says the mourning families need answers around various aspects, including the shooter's mental health and access to guns, as well as the role of...
VICTORIA -- Calls for an independent investigation into the shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where eight people, including six children were shot last month, are growing.
The B.C. Conservative Party says nine candidates have advanced to the next phase of the race to replace former leader John Rustad, but one of the candidates who did not make the cut says the party must remain "grounded in genuine Conservative principles." A release from the Official Opposition says it has approved the applications of MLA Bruce Banman, MLA...
VICTORIA -- The B.C. Conservative Party says nine candidates have advanced to the next phase of the race to replace former leader John Rustad, but one of the candidates who did not make the cut says the party must remain "grounded in genuine Conservative principles."
VICTORIA -- British Columbia has launched a $400 million fund to directly invest in private-sector projects or provide them with loans.
VICTORIA -- A coalition of business leaders says British Columbia's government must scrap the planned expansion of provincial sales tax to a range of professional services, saying it will depress economic growth and send business to other provinces.
British Columbia Premier David Eby says it "looks like" OpenAI had the opportunity to prevent the recent mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in which nine people died, as pressure piles on the artificial intelligence firm over its handling of interactions with 18-year-old shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar. Eby said Monday there would be a public accounting in which the company...
VICTORIA -- British Columbia Premier David Eby says it "looks like" OpenAI had the opportunity to prevent the recent mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in which nine people died, as pressure piles on the artificial intelligence firm over its handling of interactions with 18-year-old shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia Premier David Eby has been served up a heap of criticism about his government's budget while attending a breakfast meeting of business leaders.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's finance minister started to sell her "tough" budget Wednesday to business leaders who describe her deficit numbers as "scary," while other groups are tabulating the losses.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon says he will be meeting with federal Defence Minister David McGuinty to discuss shipbuilding in B.C. among other possibilities following the release of Canada's defence industrial strategy.
VICTORIA -- No wonder British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey thought she was going to be "the least popular person in the province."
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's budget is delivering hits to the young, the old and cancer patients alike as government construction undergoes "re-pacing" to address fiscal pressures.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey has unveiled what she calls a “serious” budget for 2026 that raises the base income tax rate while failing to rein in the deficit as previously pledged.
VICTORIA -- The British Columbia government didn't have the opportunity to hint about what was coming in the provincial budget in its annual throne speech but both the premier and his finance minister have foreshadowed a cinching of government spending.
VICTORIA -- A new session of the British Columbia legislature opened today with Lt.-Gov. Wendy Cocchia saying in the speech from the throne that the people of Tumble Ridge, B.C., are "suffering unimaginable pain."
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's provincial legislature has cancelled Thursday's throne speech because of the mass shooting that claimed nine lives in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's provincial legislature has cancelled Thursday's throne speech because of the mass shooting that claimed nine lives in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
VICTORIA -- The British Columbia government heads into a legislative session this week with an $11.2 billion deficit, economic uncertainty, and plans to roll back a law on Indigenous rights -- and an expert says none of that adds up to "winning conditions" in a potential early election.
VICTORIA -- The BC Green Party announced Monday that it will not renew an accord with the Premier David Eby's NDP when the deal expires next month, potentially undermining the stability of the provincial government with its one-seat majority.
British Columbia's government is supporting a private bid to host a new international bank to finance military projects by democratic nations, with Premier David Eby calling Vancouver the "strategic choice" to host it. The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank is intended to finance military projects for members of NATO and its allies. Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto have also been pit
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's government is supporting a private bid to host a new international bank to finance military projects by democratic nations, with Premier David Eby calling Vancouver the "strategic choice" to host it.
VICTORIA -- In 2017, Cory Pahl was a candidate for the Cascadia Party of British Columbia, whose official goals included the creation of a provincial assembly that would assert the sovereign rights of "British Columbians, Canadians and Cascadians."
VICTORIA -- A First Nations leader says the British Columbia government wants amendments that propose a "gutting" of its own reconciliation legislation.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia has applied to the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal against a landmark court ruling that found the province's mineral claims regime was "inconsistent" with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, embodied in a provincial law known as DRIPA.
Former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad says he will "make himself available" to talk about a potential bid for his old job next week when the legislature resumes in Victoria. Rustad says he has "no comment" about a report, which says he has received and requested a leadership application, but promises to discuss the issue when the legislative session starts...
VICTORIA -- Former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad says he will "make himself available" to talk about a potential bid for his old job next week when the legislature resumes in Victoria.
VICTORIA -- B.C. Conservative MLAs Bruce Banman and Steve Kooner are joining the contest to lead the party, pushing the field of candidates into double digits.
VICTORIA -- British Columbia's emergencies minister says she's cautiously optimistic about securing federal funding to prevent future flooding in the Abbotsford region, as she prepares to head to Ottawa with the city's mayor.
Former federal MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay has joined the race to lead the Conservative Party of B.C., immediately joining the fray over who is conservative enough for the job. Findlay, who is married to Conservative MLA Brent Chapman, says in a statement she is running because she doesn't want former B.C. Liberals to take over the party, saying they are pursuing...
VICTORIA -- Former federal MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay has joined the race to lead the Conservative Party of B.C., immediately joining the fray over who is conservative enough for the job.
VICTORIA -- The president of the Tahltan Central Government says British Columbia shouldn't change its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, just as the First Nation and the provincial government celebrate a landmark agreement based on the legislation.
Last June, landscapers working on a site in Kamloops, B.C., came upon a troubling discovery -- two human skulls and jawbones.
VICTORIA -- The president of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police says people will not be arrested for possession of small amounts of drugs after the end of decriminalization on Jan. 31, "unless there are extenuating circumstances."
VICTORIA -- Premier David Eby says a recent agreement advancing wood construction in China will deliver results for the forestry industry in British Columbia, but also acknowledges that it will take "time, energy and commitment" to create a sustainable industry.
British Columbia's Energy Minister Adrian Dix says an agreement between BC Hydro and the Nisga'a First Nation will help power a planned floating LNG terminal in northwestern B.C. across the finish line.
British Columbia's energy minister Adrian Dix says an agreement between BC Hydro and the Nisga'a First Nation will help power a planned floating LNG terminal in northwestern B.C. across the finish line.
VICTORIA -- Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says the B.C. government is postponing changes to the law that governs the designation and protection of heritage sites, because it needs more time to consult with First Nations, industry and other groups.
First Nations in British Columbia's central Interior are sounding the alarm over landslide risk along the same stretch of the Chilcotin River where a massive slide blocked the waterway for several days in the summer of 2024.
VICTORIA -- A leadership candidate for British Columbia's Conservatives says recently announced rules for the contest are intended to stop "any funny business" following last year's leadership review that was marred by fraud allegations.
British Columbia's Conservative Party has unveiled rules for its leadership race that include $115,000 in fees for contestants, who must sign a pledge to support the eventual winner set to be announced at the end of May. The rules say voting under a preferential ballot system will be held from May 9 to May 30, while the deadline for nominations...